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On the karst plateau of Ha Giang, there is a very special and beautiful market to visit where trading, selling, buying are not the main activity. It is the Khau Vai Love Market, also known as the Phong Luu Market, dating back more than 100 years and held once a year on the 27th day of the third lunar month. This unique market makes the lives of local people more vibrant and helps preserve the region's authentic culture.
The word 'Khau Vai' in the Tay-Nung language means rattan tree pass, rattan forest, indicating the feelings of a loving couple, which is intimate and close like a rattan tree on the mountains around the region. However, many documents regularly call it 'Khau Vai' while visitors to Ha Giang call it Phong Tinh market.
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The origin of the Khau Vai love market
Its origin comes from the legend of the boy called Ba from the Nung ethnic group and the girl named Ut from the Giay ethnic group. They loved each other passionately however their relationship was forbidden. Because they did not belong to the same ethnic group neither did they have the same ancestors or customs, in addition that he was the son of a poor family while she was the daughter of the patriarch of the Giay.
They went to a cave on Mount Khau Vai to hide and spend time together. However, Mrs Ut's relatives brought a bow and crossbow to scold the boy's family to find their girl. The man's family even prepared sticks and knives to beat the girl's family. From the cave on the mountain, the couple seeing the scene of their relatives fighting over their relationship were heartbroken. They decided to separate, returning home to fulfil their duty to the clan. Before parting, they promised to meet again in Khau Vai every year on 27th March, to sing and confide in each other about what happened during the year apart.
After spending the night together, they would return to their normal lives. When they were old, they saw each other again on the last day of their lives, embraced and went into eternity together. The day they passed away was also 27th March. The villagers mourned this unfulfilled love so they built two temples dedicated to the worship of the Lord and Lady. Since then, local people have held Khau Vai Love market for couples who had lost their predestined relationship.
In the beginning, the market was not for trading anything, but just a place where people could meet again. These people may be separated from each other due to difficult love, family prohibitions or other reasons that they are unable to reunite, each of them still maintains their own melancholic story as the legend of the old couple. Therefore, it is an opportunity for them to confide in each other after a year or more apart, to tell each other about the current situation.
Broken love stories are part of every individual's past. So married people who come here, either wives or husbands, are not jealous. They respect each other's past and regard it as a responsibility for each other's spiritual life. At the end of the market, they return to their daily lives and make plans to come to the market again next year.
The Khau Love Market Nowadays
Khau Vai Love Market is the rustic and simple cultural beauty of the northern mountainous area. Although now there are many services that 'follow' the market, causing it to gradually become commercialised, the nature of the love market still attracts many visitors to Ha Giang to learn about the local culture. Nowadays, Khau Vai love market is currently organised as a festival catering tourists to visit and learn about the local culture. Each festival includes the ceremony part and the festival part with dozens of interesting activities.
Every year, on the 27th day of the third lunar month, ethnic boys and girls wearing their most beautiful costumes flock to this event.
In the ceremony part of the love market, the people of Khau Vai place offerings at the temples of the Lord and Lady to remember and to honour the couple's love. The local elder presiding over the ceremony will light incense to ask permission to start the festival.
At the festival, visitors may participate in special activities such as nightingale fights, cultural exchanges, art performances, folk games, etc. There are even stalls displaying handicrafts that tourists can buy as souvenirs after their Ha Giang trip.
Khau Vai love market, which forms the unique cultural identity of Ha Giang people, is a unique market in the world. The market has become an indispensable cultural routine in the spiritual life of the ethnic minorities in the Dong Van Karst Plateau. Khau Vai love market has transformed from a legend into a unique culture in Meo Vac district and Ha Giang province.
To see more about Ha Giang:
>> The Charm of Hoang Su Phi's People and Terraced Field
>> The Most Scenic Ha Giang Loops and Northeast Vietnam Tours
